


Kindling

by Greyias



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: (i mean eventually), (it takes them a whiiiiile), Best Friends, F/M, Friends to Lovers, a grab bag of genres and prompt fills, written out of chronological order
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:00:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26663305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greyias/pseuds/Greyias
Summary: Short prompts and fills from Tumblr featuring my Smuggler and his Jedi best friend.
Relationships: Male Smuggler/Original Jedi Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. A Bright Particular Star

**Author's Note:**

> “Love is friendship set on fire.” — Jeremy Taylor
> 
> The Jedi in these stories, Lyra Dorn, belongs to my dear friend Hedgie. What started out as sharing silly head canons about Lyra and Draike meeting wound up becoming a long tale about two best friends slowly falling in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the microstore prompt: too loud
> 
> Inspired by [this post on Tumblr about the sound of stellar objects](https://greyias.tumblr.com/post/188959622853/oh-it-totally-does-but-you-cant-hear-it-because), as I couldn’t get it out of my head.

It was a common misconception that space was silent. On the surface it seemed accurate, because sound couldn’t reverberate through an empty vacuum. That the only sound made was the engines humming as ships zipped through hyperspace. The real truth was that the universe was alive with sound, and even the most seemingly barren hunks of rocks flying in their lonely orbits had a song.

Most people didn’t realize it, because they were too busy shuffling to and fro. Even the Jedi for all of their supposed insight into the life and the Force hardly ever stoped to listen to the whispers of the moons and asteroids. It was a little secret among spacers — the miners and smugglers and those who lived in the bowels of their ships. Those who wandered too close to a star might pick up the blaze and buzz of it roiling in on itself. Or if they stared too long at an asteroid, they might hear its haunting echo through their scanner.

Draike Highwind had been eleven the first time he’d heard the high-pitched shriek of a ringed gas giant. Technically it was called sonification, the translation of the electromagnetic signals into audio waves. The rest of Zale Barrow’s crew had shifted uncomfortably at the planet’s angry wails, all of the adults seeming ill-at-ease with its lonely pain. It was too loud, too full of rage, and too close to the reckless wild that the vacuum separated them from. Draike had understood it though, because the ethereal noise seemed like it had been dragged up from his very chest. It filled his bones like the echoes that haunted his nightmares.

From then on, it became a hobby of his to turn the scanners on when he was alone in the cockpit, and just listen to songs that the rest of the galaxy drowned out. The ethereal twinkling hum of a white dwarf filled the cockpit of the _Khoonda_. He’d gotten so lost in the sound, he didn’t realize he had company until someone daintily sat in the seat next to him. Lyra was looking at the control panel, an endearingly puzzled expression settling on the blonde’s face. Draike probably should have explained it, but he was loathe to interrupt the star’s song, because it so rarely had a chance to be heard.

So instead he just turned the volume up a little more, letting his gaze drift to the distant star. Lyra leaned back into her own seat, the befuddlement giving way to a soft awe as understanding set in. Despite himself, Draike smiled a little, some of the tightness that he always carried in his chest unfurling a little. Like somehow that simple action had made the big, vast, empty galaxy feel a little less lonely. He sat back into the pilot’s seat, and let the stellar remnant continue to croon into the night of space.


	2. Nerfherders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt: petrichor - the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a long period of dry weather

There was something unique about springtime on Dantooine, the way life renewed itself after a long winter slumber, but perhaps one of her favorite things was the first rain of the season. It signaled the beginning of the planting season. Her grandfather tended to the fields with his old, rusted equipment, while Lyra Dorn helped her grandmother in the garden. She loved the way the damp soil gave way beneath her fingers as she buried the seeds that would blossom into herbs and vegetables given time. But most of all she loved the deep, earthy scent that filled her nostrils as the rain hit the dry soil. It smelled so fresh, like a renewal. A new beginning.

That smell was almost overpowered here in the nerf pens by the musk of her large furry companions, something the boy with her was not shy sharing his opinions about. 

“How can you be this close to something that smells _so_ bad?” he held his nose dramatically as he shook his head, his shock of black hair echoing the movement.

“You get used to it,” Lyra said with a shrug.

“But _why_?”

“Because they’re _cute_.”

“They are not. They’re big, hairy, and they drool.”

“That’s not drool,” she smiled as the boy tried to shove the nerf intending to nuzzle its newly adopted human-calf affectionately, “it’s a kiss!”

“Well, make it stop!”

“She likes you!”

The boy glared at the large animal right as he was drowned in a big, sticky kiss. “This better not be the cool thing you promised me!”

Lyra happened to think sloppy nerf kisses were perhaps the best thing in the world, next to maybe Grandpa Dorn’s special tea blend. “That’s Floofer. She’s my favorite.”

The boy glared at Floofer, as if doing so might somehow summon back the dignity that had been licked away by her giant, slobbery kiss. Not for the first time, she wondered what the boy’s name was — but he hadn’t offered it when she’d found him balancing precariously on the fence to the nerf pen, instead preferring to talk about all of the different types of spaceships he was going to fly one day. It had been fascinating to listen to him talk about space and flying as if it were the most natural thing in the world, as Grandma and Grandpa were always talking about the farm and growing things. It was like being introduced to a whole new world.

They had been talking for over ten minutes by the time she realized she didn’t know what to call him, and it felt a little rude to ask now. It would be like pointing out bad manners on her new friend’s part, and Lyra didn’t have many friends outside of the nerfs. The only clue to the mysterious boy’s identity that he’d let slip was that his father was the doctor that was currently inside the house, and he’d been forced to accompany him on his rounds as some sort of punishment for some misdeed that he didn’t really feel like explaining.

The doctor, Lyra knew.

Doctor Onasi had been coming out to the farm a lot lately, but Lyra wasn’t allowed in the house when he came around. Grandpa said it would be boring and that she should just play with Floofer and the rest of the herd. He never said anything about it having to do with how tired Grandma had been lately, but Lyra knew that was the real reason. She couldn’t say exactly how, but she did. Just like she knew that despite his bluster and glowering, the dark haired boy wasn’t as annoyed with Floofer’s displays of affection as he was putting on.

Without a word she moved further into the pen, waving the boy over. Floofer followed dutifully as Lyra knelt down in the pile of hay where four (relatively) tiny balls of fur huddled together. The boy knelt opposite to her, hand tentatively reaching out before he seemed to catch himself.

“What are they?”

“Babies!” she said if that explained everything in the world. At his narrowed brow, she clarified. “Calves. Nerf calves.”

He looked at one of the balls of fur that was sniffing him with great skepticism, but that melted into a smile as the calf surged forward to press against him affectionately.

“Aren’t they cute?” Lyra asked.

“No,” he said, although the big smile on his face said otherwise, “they’re just really big hairballs.”

“I guess they are,” she allowed, “but they’re still cute.”

The boy shook his head, but continued to pet the little nerf, as he spent the rest of the visit going into great detail on how the Corellian XS Freighters were the best and fastest ships in the galaxy, and how one day he was going to be the best pilot the galaxy would ever see. She let him talk, happy to hear about the wider galaxy, and just to have a new friend.


End file.
